Three Weeks
by mustlovecat
Summary: DL One shot. Danny and Lindsay set a date.


**A/N **After focusing for a couple stories on Danny and Lindsay's interactions with other characters, this one is purely about them  Takes place shortly after The Sandlot, the first fic I wrote. Thanks so much to every one of you that has been reading my work. It means a lot!

**Disclaimer **I own none of these characters. If I did, that would mean I'd be working my dream job, writing for CSI:NY and Jerry would have bestowed upon me more power than I could ever hope for LOL

His entire being beyond exhausted, Danny fumbled with his keys in the lock of his front door, finally managing to turn the deadbolt and make his way inside. With a sigh, he shut and re-locked the door, then flicked on the light. He narrowed his eyes then, noticing a pair of heeled boots inside the doorway, a woman's leather coat draped over the back of the couch. Had Lindsay not said she was going to stay at her own place tonight?

He shut the hall light off and crossed the dark apartment to his bedroom, and a smile curled its way across lips when, from the doorway, he laid eyes on his fiancée. She was lit only by the moon peeking its way in through the window, the deep and slow rise and fall of her chest as she slept, all wrapped up in the covers of his bed, almost intoxicating. He certainly was not disappointed that she had changed her mind and chosen to crash here.

He quietly stripped down to his boxers and threw his clothes in the hamper. Grabbing his pajama pants off the foot of the bed, he disappeared into the bathroom to brush his teeth and get ready for bed.

A few minutes later, Danny was carefully sliding under the covers, trying not to disturb Lindsay. He happily moved up behind her, an arm draping itself over her hip. For a while, he just leaned on his elbow and watched her sleep. However, soon the fatigue that had been following him for the past few hours consumed him and he drifted off.

When he awoke hours later, it was to the sound of clattering in the kitchen. He rubbed his eyes and glanced at the clock. Even through the blur, he could see that he had been out for a ridiculously long stretch of time. Sleeping next to Lindsay did that to him. It calmed him, taking away all of the bad and replacing it with a peace he had never known. He smiled almost incredulously to himself, picking his glasses up from the bedside table and putting them on to bring a hint of clarity to the moment.

"So, not that I'm complaining, but I wasn't expecting to find you here when I got home," Danny said a minute later as he walked into the kitchen to find Lindsay whisking together the ingredients for pancakes in a large mixing bowl.

She grinned a little sheepishly, meeting his kiss as he made his way to her and leaned down eagerly for contact. "Couldn't sleep at home," she explained once they had parted.

"Everything okay?" he asked, suddenly concerned, taking a seat on one of the stools by the island.

"Yeah. I'm just not used to sleeping without you, that's all," she replied simply. She walked over and opened up the freezer, studying the contents. Finally finding what she was looking for, she pulled out the container of frozen blueberries and shut the door. She looked back at him then. "What time did you get in? I didn't even hear you."

"Around three."

She furrowed her brow. "Weren't you supposed to be off at midnight? Difficult tour?"

He shrugged. "Long interrogation. Stubborn son-of-a-bitch."

Lindsay poured him a cup of coffee and set it down in front of him.

"So, what'd you do last night?"

"Not much. Leafed through some bridal magazines …" She stopped and chuckled lightly at his eye rolling. "This wedding isn't going to plan itself, Messer."

"You, me, St Luke's and a priest. That's all we need, babe."

"The State of New York requires a witness," she pointed out.

"Fine. My parents, Louie, your folks, your brothers, Flack, Stel, Mac, Hawkes, Adam and Sid. A quiet ceremony at the church, dinner at Armando's … There, consider it planned."

He expected a fight, an incredulous glare, or at the very least some diatribe about how she had been dreaming of this day since she was a little girl and what he had just suggested was preposterous. Instead, she paused for a moment in quiet consideration, then smiled. "Okay."

"What?"

"Okay. That's it. Let's do what you just said."

"Linds, I was just kidding. We can do this however you want. Big dress, bagpipes, half the state of Montana in attendance, whatever you want."

"But I don't want that, Danny. All I want is to marry the man who got down on his knee on a baseball diamond on Staten Island and told me he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me." She moved over to him, wrapping her arms around his neck, as his arm snaked around her waist and pulled her against him. "I don't need big and ostentatious. I don't need anything fancy. I just want you, me, the people we love, and God as our witness."

"Then let's just do it. I mean, how far ahead do you have to plan something like that? Your family can fly up here for a weekend, right? Let's just – Let's just look at the schedule, find the first weekend we're both off, and let's just do it."

She bit her lip as she let the idea play itself out in her mind, then just shrugged and nodded excitedly. "Three weeks."

"Hmm?"

"The next weekend we're both off, it's in three weeks."

"You would know that," he teased her.

"It's called being organized, Danny. I mean, if that's too soon, we can –"

"Shut up and marry me in three weeks, Lindsay Monroe." He pulled her close, kissing her languidly.

A little breathless as they separated, she leaned her forehead against his. "You really want to do this?"

"More than anything."

She kissed him again. "There are a few things we need to figure out first, you know."

"So, we figure them out."

"You make everything sound easy."

"Linds, you just like to complicate it. Don and I are both off on Wednesday. We'll move your stuff in then."

"You're assuming a lot there, cowboy. Maybe I don't want to give up my place."

"My pool table won't fit in your apartment."

"Sweetie, a pool table in the dining room might work for a bachelor, but –"

"Not the pool table. C'mon, I'll negotiate on any other point, but not the pool table. I saved up for months to get that thing. Besides, if memory serves, you had a lot of fun on it one night …"

She glanced over his shoulder, her hands absent-mindedly playing with the hair on the nape of his neck. Looking back at him, her eyes full of lust from the memory of the night they shared making love on that table, she sighed. "Fine. But we switch out your coffee table with mine and you let me paint the bedroom."

He narrowed his eyes. "What colour?"

"Green."

"What shade of green?"

She raised her eyebrows. "You're a guy. You don't care."

"Fine. Just not some weird camouflage green or nothin'. So, we're good?"

"Yeah. I'll put in my notice at the building today. We'll probably have to put some stuff in storage."

"Sure. Whatever."

"I can't believe we're doing this!"

He grinned. "Believe it, baby. Three weeks from now, you'll be Lindsay Messer."

"What if I want to keep my name?" she challenged.

"Then you keep your name. Linds, it's not a big deal. I just want to be able to call you my wife, and know that we're gonna be together for the rest of our lives. That's all I want."

She kissed him gently. "I can deal with that."

"Three weeks?_ Three weeks_?" Flack asked incredulously as he and Danny walked through the corridors of the lab. "Are you crazy? There's no way we can pull this off in three weeks. I can't even put together a decent bachelor party in that time!"

"Okay, Linds, it's not a lot of time, but I've been faced with worse," said Stella with a determined expression on her face as the two women turned the corner at the opposite end of the corridor. "But we better get started."

Lindsay nodded, glancing up to see her fiancé at the end of the hallway. He caught her gaze and flashed her a grin. And she knew then that she was about to begin the longest three weeks of her life.


End file.
